I could add that there were obvious correlations between nature and its battle against civilization (which I must say that nature won out in this one), it would be a stretch to add it to the film’s positive ratio.  This being said, the major note of the story was that despite the nature of a teenager to rebel against all adult authority and social construct and the adult resenting them every step of the way in order to mask their own past, the two were paralleled in order to demonstrate the elements of similarity and trust within each age.  “We’re all just hungry,” the main teenage character, Joe would say, and the sly slip of similarity was certainly a heavy truth.

I gave The Kings of Summer only two out of five stars as an overall expression of my disappointment.  I had been built up to an ideal of how great this movie was going to be and the struggle of such a letdown has only previously been rivaled to that of the original Hangover.  Well-constructed as a professional piece, the lack of vision and therefore execution makes me question just who is watching where their money and time are going.

So what does that say about this movie? Well, as part of the New Director’s Competition, John Burgess took home first prize in my book.  Saying the movie was cute and catchy are true but easy descriptors that fleshed themselves out into a deeper comedic genius, displaying an unfeigned witty banter of charm and intelligence.

While it is easier and easier to assume the predictability of most rom coms (romantic comedies) nowadays, people still flock to the theaters to see them because they anticipate that it will romance them into a version of reality that they long to be true but have no real expectation of achieving as a status in their own lives.  In One Small Hitch, it felt like something that could really and truly happen, and not just to the pretty and lucky in the world.  With Shane McRae as studly lead, Josh Shiffman, and Aubrey Dollar as his petite partner, Molly Mahoney, it is no wonder that the characters were adorably sexy and supported the sassy wit of the script into a work of brilliance.

To say the movie was Indie through and through would still be an understatement but Burgess wanted to make sure that everything about the film exuded the vulnerability of something new and inexperienced.  This included the music which was an open mix of techno-dance and acoustically hipster.  The whole package solidified the deal, causing me to give a rousing five out of five stars.  I enjoyed it more than a corporate rom com on the mainstream silver screen and would gladly have paid the 10 plus dollars at a theater to see it.  In one phrase: Well done, John Burgess! Well done!

As a result, I made it my personal mission to attend at least one of the films that would showcase some of the raw talent that this country possesses.  I can successfully admit that I was not disappointed.  In the Lion’s Den was a gritty exposure to the inner (and outer) turmoil that forms when a generation of people are thrown into the pits of a war they don’t understand but are forced to choose a side and ultimately believe in what they are fighting for.

Hinged on the Biblical semblance of relying on faith to continue living and fighting for a moral stance, Director Fekri Baroshi, uses the deconstruction of basic binaries to complicate what we as humans try to simplify on a daily basis.  He poses the idea of right and wrong against each other and creates the question of what actually exists within ourselves when we are thrown into uncertain circumstances that depend on one moral versus another.  When these lines are blinded within a war, Baroshi looks at who the real enemy is and whether or not freedom is a mere euphemism for the justification of our actions.

Despite the underwhelming acting and the over-staged violence, this was most certainly a noteworthy solid film.  I also gave In the Lion’s Den three out of five stars because it was overall well-done.  Given the appropriate tools, outlets, and opportunities, I truly believe that the Kurdish film industry will knock us out of the water with what they will be able to create.  I am honored to have been a part of its initial construct.

Following three separate male semi-protagonists, the swirl of fog and silence become the nestling catalyst for the heart breaking back-stories that follow each man from the beginning of the German invasion of Poland in World War II.  Similar to In the Lion’s Den, Director  Sergei Loznitsa builds a casual suspense throughout the whole movie by pitting two morals against one another making it difficult to determine the difference between what is considered right and what is considered wrong.  As a result, the film is riddled with symbolism that is supported by all aspects including lighting, camera position, sound, and pacing.

There was one scene in particular that exemplified this precisely.  Every now and then, I will find a scene in a film that is so beautiful yet somehow tucked away from the average movie-goer.  I feel like I have found a special gem that only the director and I know about, and despite the fact that I am not usually an emotional person at the movie theater, I tend to find myself lost in the sappiness of my own feelings.  This moment arrived for me when one of the main characters, Sushenya, revisits his past that explains his initial state of trouble: The Germans release Sushenya after interrogating him about some wrongdoings of his coworkers, thinking this will shame him greater than actually dying.  The accuracy of this assumption is the cruelest of all.  For his community, there is no honor in living with the stigma of aiding the Germans attached to your soul.  With this final verdict on his head, the camera follows Sushenya out into the sun, nestled directly on his shoulder so that we understand how he sees the weight of the world resting on his shoulders.  In this moment of utter mental despair, he turns around and makes eye contact with his fate, the Nazis.  In this single shot, the binaries of what is considered to be good or evil are broken down and reversed, capturing the two Nazi commanding officers standing genteelly in a bed of subtle yellow flowers surrounded by two sets of white picket fences.  Switching back to Sushenya, a single tear falls down his cheek and this becomes the statement of the whole film.

Due to the deep discussions of morality in films set in war, the pacing is typically slower and ruminates with the dragging of time.  In the Fog was no exception, and while I agreed that it was set at a good pace for the telling of the whole story, it could have easily been reduced by an hour.  There is also some slight predictability in the way it ends, but perhaps the audience knew that from the moment they heard the title of the film.  Similar to Dead Man’s Burden, Loznitsa uses silence as a character and it serves powerfully well as a catalyst for the raw emotion that floats in the air and mingles with the mist of uncertainty.

Once again, I gave this film a solid three out of five stars.  While I did absolutely love the pivotal moments of symbolism scattered throughout, the timing ultimately made me weary and I feel like more could have been accomplished to refine the film to a deeper state of finality.

With an impressive cast like Barlow Jacobs as Wade McCurry and Claire Bowen as Martha Kirkland, with a special guest appearance by veteran Richard Riehle, it is no wonder that this film was initially set up for success.  However, as time has proved again and again, unoriginality and repetition as a creative force no longer has a place and I have certainly lost the patience.  While there is brilliance to the few key moments of emotional hardship, there is too much lost in the replication of movie ghosts for there to be an overall redeemable quality.

Even at the end of the screening, the director himself admitted to having copied scene for scene with the olden Westerns of the silver vault. Much to his credit, there are a few aspects of Dead Man’s Burden that approved a head nod, such as using silent panorama as an active character within the movie itself.  This allowed for easy fade outs between scenes and gave an obvious breath-taking view of the landscape of New Mexico (where the film was shot) but the lack of music and constant stain of yellow left an aesthetic blindness that should have been balanced by the power of the grain of a 35 mm film.

It is no lie that the story is paced well and that the ending is certainly unpredictable (or at least I am terrible at guessing surprises) but the frame ratio to the actors had me slightly squeamish for the majority of the movie.  Director Moshe admitted that he realized how up close the actors would appear on the screen, making their heads enormously disproportionate.  He also agreed that this was his intention.  Once again, I disagreed because I felt it made things overcrowded and small which also caused multiple sound problems.

Ultimately, I gave the film three out of five stars.  It was a solid first film indeed and I have no doubt that there will be more from him in the future.  Since he clearly has no problem receiving backing and a budget, it will be nice to witness a more creative outlet for the next one.

Opening night of the festival, I had the blessed privilege to work alongside some kind and talented board members for a silent auction with a wide variety of packages, get-a-ways, baskets and artist treats that not only further introduced me to a network of others that love film and all its opportunities as much as I do, but it also gave me an insider’s view of the world behind the backstage pass.  While I am no stranger to working with the general public, the eclectic set of people in attendance were warm-hearted, originally artistic, and above all else, wholly entertaining.

I returned to the festival the second night as a non-profit volunteer.  While I chose a couple of shifts that were well staffed, the evening did prove to be eventful as I made several friends who are also “aspiring-to-be” students, escorted several members of the academy (including Sid Ganis, Ellen Harrington, and Tom Pollock) to a debut screening, and managed to woefully lock my keys in my car with no spare key or money in sight.  But, of course, all of this hard work paid off into my own intrinsic reward of attending seven key films along with several other talented critics in order to demonstrate my full appreciation and thoughts about the 2013 Nashville Film Festival.  Despite the important detail that all of this took place at the same time as finals for the end of yet another college semester, I cannot and would not trade my experiences, opportunities, blessings, and the relationships that I created and built for any amount of sleep or extra moments to study.  Even if I was merely one belle at the ball, the memory of a well-orchestrated dance will stay with me forever.  The pastel faces of lightly reflected dancers, the clicking shoes of those rushing to take in all the sights, the films rising and falling to the swoon of the music, and the twirling of dreams, claimed a successful run for the festival that will certainly entertain the lips of society until the next year.